After months of tense, divisive, and at time explosive debate, Loudoun County School Board members approved a measure that will grant more autonomy and rights to transgender students.
The policy passed 7-2 with members John Beatty and Jeff Morse the two no-votes.
The approved proposal, Policy 8040, demands that teachers refer to “transgender” students by their preferred pronouns rather than their actual pronouns, while also permitting such students to participate in sports and athletic teams of their choice, even if they are of the opposite gender of the rest of the team. Additionally and most controversially, the policy allows students to use restrooms and locker rooms of their choice, in accordance with their “consistently assorted gender identity.”
One of the two board members who voted against the policy, Jeff Morse, criticized the new policy as politically-motivated and irrelevant to education, saying that “the policy is not needed,” and it “does not solve the issues that it’s purported to solve. The policy has forced our focus out of education, and I will not support it.”
Meanwhile, Loudoun County School District officials instructed staff to avoid informing a transgender student’s parents about their child’s gender identity unless the student gives the school expressed permission, according to materials from the training.
The proposed policy was highly contested at previous school board meetings. Tensions related to the policy at a June school board meeting, when public comments were cut off after a crowd of attendees became confrontational.
Here’s what Atoosa Reaser, Vice-Chair of Loudoun School Board, said:
“The best interest of every child is what guides my every vote. Tonight, the school board adopted a policy to protect our transgender students because feeling safe and welcome is a first step to learning.”
Previously, students and parents had spoken out against the policy at school board meetings. Tanner Cross, a physical education teacher at Leesburg Elementary School, was suspended after saying he would not follow the policy at a meeting.
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The Loudoun community responded to the policy with mixed reactions. Many people applauded the school district’s effort to expand rights to transgender students. Others thought it was not right.
“We all had a sense of a wide margin of support, but this was a big relief,” former LCPS student Nicholas Gothard told the Loudon Times-Mirror. “On an issue that was divisive, our school board showed it fights for our kids.”
Senator Jennifer Boysko (D-33rd) represents a portion of Loudoun and Fairfax Counties. She said: “We have a number of students in the school system who are very, very vulnerable, and to have the ability to be called the name that they asked to be called, and to be able to use the bathroom that identifies with their gender the courts have spoken.”
Another community member, Jeff Morse, did not vote in favor of the policy, saying: “Tonight’s a difficult night for our community.”
Source: AWM
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